Nightmare Realism
by Robotics-girl19
Summary: Ariadne is attacked in her apartment and kidnapped. What will Ariadne have to go through before Arthur finds her and rescues her from these unknown assailants?
1. Early Morning Kidnapping

**I know there are a million and a half Ariadne/Arthur stories, but how about one more. After watching the movie (and reading way too many stories) I had to write my own. This chapter is fairly short, but they should get longer as I go. Enjoy!**

**I don't own this...**

_**Nightmare Realism**_

_**Ariadne is attacked in her apartment and kidnapped. Who searches for her and rescues her from these unknown assailants?**_

_**Early Morning Kidnapping**_

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><p>Ariadne replayed that horrible night in her head again.<p>

She had woken up every hour that night and at two she was finally getting up to go to the kitchen to get some food before trying to go back to sleep. If she was lucky, she would be able to get four hours of sleep before her classes in the morning. She pulled her slippers on and shuffled sleepily to the kitchen of her apartment. Ariadne put some bread in the toaster and pulled out some butter before going back towards her bedroom to get her bathrobe. It was then that everything went wrong.

She heard some scratching outside her door that led to the hallway. She crept to her door and peaked out the peep hole. She nearly screamed in surprise at what she saw. Three large men all dressed in black were crouched outside her door and appeared to be picking the lock. She scrambled as silently as she could back to her bedroom. She grabbed her totem quickly and tipped it over. This was definitely reality. She slipped it in her pocket and then snatched her phone off the bedside table. Knowing she wouldn't have time to call anyone, she pulled up a text message and started typing as fast as she could. She had barely written anything though when she heard the door crack open. She hit send and started looking for anything heavy. She unplugged her lamp and crept behind her bedroom door and waited.

She could hear their voices saying something quietly, but it wasn't English so she had no idea what they were saying. They knew she was awake though. She had left the lights in the kitchen on and she cringed when she heard her toast pop up. She heard them spread out all over her apartment. Two of them went to her workroom and she could tell they were searching through her papers. They had probably found her maps of different worlds by now. The last man went to her bedroom.

As soon as his head appeared through the doorway, Ariadne swung her lamp at his head. He yelled in surprise and stumbled back a few feet, but wasn't knocked unconscious, much to Ariadne's dismay. The other men came running from their search to their friend's aid, and she was quickly outnumbered. The largest of the men hit her across the face, sending her tumbling to the ground. The man that she had hit had recovered by now and kicked her in the ribs. Pain flared through her and she figured that at least one of them was broken. The world was spinning and she couldn't come up with any lucid thoughts. Finally, one of the men, she never did figure out who, hit her in the head again, effectively knocking her unconscious.

As they carried her out the room, no one noticed the phone lying near the foot of the bed. On its screen it read: Message sent to: Arthur.

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><p><strong>Oh no! Poor Ariadne!<strong>


	2. Temporary Reality

**Okay, this one isn't much longer... Sorry about that. I'm still working on it. Bring on the Ari whumpage!**

**The next one is already longer even though I haven't finished yet.**

**I don't own this...**

_**Nightmare Realism**_

_**Temporary Reality**_

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><p>Of course, that was days ago. Or maybe it was weeks. She didn't even know anymore. Part of the time, they dove into her dreams to torment her, other times she was in reality. Being tied to a chair though, Ariadne couldn't test her totem and therefore couldn't tell which was which. The only difference between the two was that sometimes a bruise or cut in one world wouldn't be there in another. Ariadne tried hard to keep track of which world was the real one, but it was impossible when she was brought from world to world right after another. Finally, she realized that she would have a certain set of injuries that existed in one of the worlds. She decided, simply for her sanity, that the world where her ribs, head and stomach hurt all the time was going to be the real one.<p>

It wasn't a positive outlook, but it helped Ariadne keep things in just enough order that she was able to hang on another hour. In this world, her temporary reality, she was being kept in the back of a warehouse. There weren't any windows, but she had decided that her captors' language wasn't from Eastern Asia, but might be from Northern or Eastern Europe.

There was only one man among them that spoke English. His name was Syler. He knew that she was the architect for an inception team, and he wanted to know how they did it. She, of course, refused to say anything. He wasn't very big, but Ariadne quickly learned that size didn't matter when you were punishing a small girl tied to a chair. Syler would often slap her across the face at the beginning of the interrogations or for no reason between them. It wasn't long before he started appearing in her normal dreams too. She wasn't able to stop herself from crying out, but never gave him any information.

It was after episodes like this that they would often put her under and hurt her in her dreams. It was there that the real torture occurred. Whether with broken glass, knives or guns, the sessions were horrible to say the least. Ariadne's screams accomplished nothing. They would kill her sometimes or douse her in freezing water to wake her up, where she would be punched in the stomach or head and then be forced back into another dream.

She spent the time she was left alone trembling and whimpering quietly. She was having troubles staying focused now. By the time she came up with a clear thought, she couldn't remember why she wanted it in the first place. The only conscious thought that she could come back to repeatedly was Arthur. Even if Arthur had received her message, there was no guarantee that he could find her. These men were very careful and it was possible that no one in the world knew she was here. Ariadne wanted nothing more than someone to take her away from this temporary reality.

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><p><strong>Poor girl! Dare I continue?<strong>


	3. Broken Pattern

**A longer chapter this time, just like I promised! This chapter is super intense and amazing!**

_****I don't own this...****_

_**Nightmare Realism**_

_**Broken Pattern**_

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><p>The pattern of beatings in the morning and dream invasion in the afternoon continued until Ariadne lost track of time. Maybe it had been weeks, or maybe only three days. Several of her ribs were definitely broken and her pounding headache was never ending. Nausea hit her in waves. Fortunately she never threw up, but she came very close several times. They only fed her once a day and she only got water late at night. This didn't help with the nausea or dizziness that always existed in every world. The pattern was never broken, never changed. Every world was starting to blend together. Even the injuries were appearing in each and every dream. There was no way to keep track at all anymore.<p>

She was drifting in and out of consciousness when she heard a different sound that she hadn't heard in…however long it had been. Gunshots. Panicked shouts rang through the warehouse and she could faintly hear footsteps rushing towards her. Huge hands lifted her roughly from her chair and she felt something cold and metal pushed to the side of her head. Her legs gave out immediately and several more cruel hands gripped her arms to keep her upright. The men holding her shouted something at the intruder. It sounded like English, so it was probably Syler and another man who was holding her. Her mind wasn't working fast enough to decipher his words out of his accent.

"Let her go." Arthur.

The other man holding her up only tightened his grip on her arms, which she was starting to lose feeling in. Ariadne forced her eyes open and head up to get proof that he was actually there. There he was. His suit was disheveled, and not all his hair was perfectly slicked back, but he had come. His gun was pointed at Syler, who was still holding his gun to Ariadne's head. Even through the haze that surrounded everything in her vision, she could tell that Arthur was furious. He scared her a little. She had never seen Arthur this angry.

The man holding her started shaking her. She couldn't keep her head up anymore and collapsed again. Syler grabbed her and shoved his gun into her neck. Ariadne couldn't even muster up enough energy to pull away.

"I said, let her go," Arthur growled. "Put her down and I won't shoot you."

"I don't think I will. I still need her here. We didn't get all of the information we need yet." Syler smiled and yanked Ariadne in front of him so that she was in Arthur's shot. Arthur tightened his grip on his gun.

"Let. Her. Go. Now," Arthur repeated in a dangerous tone. He really was starting to scare her now. Two shots rang out and both of her captors fell backwards, taking Ariadne with them. She landed on top of them but didn't budge after that. She was simply too weak. Warm liquid trickled onto her shoulder. She forced her eyes open to see that Syler's blood had made its way from his head to her now damp and bruised shoulder.

Someone was rushing towards her, and she could only hope that it was Arthur. Much gentler hands carefully rolled her off of Syler. She couldn't quite force her eyes open to see who this was that was touching her, but it wasn't too painful, so she didn't resist. She was lying on the ground now, but she could feel her head being lifted and something soft being placed under it. "Ariadne," the voice called. "Can you hear me, sweetie?" She moaned weakly in response. "Ariadne, I need you to open your eyes for me. Can you do that?" She tried. She really did. It was so much harder than she would have thought though.

Finally, she forced her eyes open to see a very blurry figure hovering over her. Her first instinct was to brace for the punch that she knew was coming when anyone was that close to her. It didn't matter that Arthur wasn't one of them. He had been so angry; of course she was going to be hit. She covered her head with her arms and tried to roll away from him.

"No, no, no, sweetie," he said sadly. "You're safe now. I'm not going to hurt you. Let me help you." She didn't budge. "Please, Ariadne. No one's going to hurt you anymore," he continued in a soothing tone. She debated whether or not to trust him, but she figured that this might all be a dream, so if it went wrong, she might just be able to wake up. She lowered her hands and rolled back to face him again. He didn't look angry anymore, but she didn't know if it was just a mask or if he really was as calm as he looked. "Oh, sweetheart," he sighed unhappily when he got a better look at what injuries those brutes had inflicted on her. He started to reach towards her but froze when she sucked in a breath.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, okay? Can you trust me?" She relaxed and nodded slightly, but kept her eyes fixed on him for any sign of threat. He slid his hand under her chin and tilted her head to the side just enough to see the cuts that covered the right side of her face. He grimaced, but didn't say anything this time. Ariadne tried to speak now, but her throat was so dry that nothing came out the first time.

"Water?" was the only thing she was able to croak out.

"Of course. I'll be right back." He disappeared for a moment. To her surprise, she was suddenly terrified again. Being alone was safer, yes. No one could punch you if they weren't there. But suddenly, she didn't have anyone between her and someone worse. She started trying to find Arthur again. She rolled over frantically, but this motion made her ribs scream in protest. She moaned in pain.

"Ariadne?" She froze instantly. Arthur was back! She whipped her head around, trying frantically to locate him. "Sweetie, don't worry, I'm here." He appeared out of nowhere and took both of her hands to hold them still. "Don't move too much yet. I need to make sure you won't hurt anything else." He knew that she was still panicking, so he put one hand very slowly and very gently on the side of her head. She resisted the urge to cringe away. _This is Arthur, _she told herself. _He won't hurt me._ "First, I need you to take a deep breath, okay?" She did so shakily. "Good. I've got your water. Let me help you sit up, okay?" he asked very carefully. She nodded slowly and he slipped his arm behind her. She stiffened but didn't say anything. Arthur proceeded cautiously. Once she was sitting upright and leaning against him, Arthur brought the cup to her lips. She drank greedily until it was completely empty. When she was done, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. Ariadne looked at him questioningly, but he shook his head and started talking into it. "Hey. Yeah, it's me. I've got her. She's…well, she's conscious. Terrified to say the least, but I think she'll be fine. Yes. Good. We're in the back room. See you soon."

"What was that about?" Ariadne asked, completely confused.

"Help is coming," he explained. "They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Oh. Okay." Ariadne was still confused, but she didn't know why. Maybe she was just tired. Come to think of it, she was so comfortable leaning against Arthur. She finally felt safe too. Her eyes started to close…

"You've got to stay awake, sweetie," he called, tapping her on the cheek with his finger. Her eyes fluttered open again. "C'mon Ari, let's move you to the wall over there, okay?" He glanced around nervously. "I don't like being out in the middle of the room." He looked down at her. "Can you walk?"

"I guess we're about to find out." Arthur wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted. She crumpled almost immediately and it was only Arthur's arm around her waist that kept her upright. She clutched his arm in a death grip.

"Whoa, I've got you. I've got you," he repeated softly. He guided her to the wall and helped her slide down into a sitting position. Her eyes were shut tightly again, and all the returning color had drained out of her face again. She still had a tight grip on his arm and was giving no indication that she was letting go any time soon. They both jumped when a gunshot was heard in another room. Arthur immediately pulled out his gun and shifted in front of the terrified girl.

"Gotcha! They still haven't learned to hide well," an excited British voice echoed in through the doorway. Arthur smiled and relaxed back against the wall. He wrapped his arm around Ariadne and held her close.

"Quiet, Eames," an older voice hissed. "Arthur said they were in the back. Let's go."

The cavalry had arrived.

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><p><strong>Finally! Something is going right! <strong>


	4. Not Many People

**Another long chapter! Yay! I love this chapter; I hope you will too! Enjoy!**

**I don't own this...**

_**Nightmare Realism**_

_**Not Many People**_

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><p>Cobb and Eames appeared in the doorway with their guns drawn. Arthur was sitting against the wall with his right arm wrapped around Ariadne's trembling shoulders. Her head was resting on his shoulder and she was gripping his left hand tightly in her lap. She glanced up when they approached. It took a moment, but eventually her mind registered who they were, and her face lit up. After surveying the room and seeing that everyone inside was safe, Cobb strode back to the door and kept a lookout for any enemies. Eames slipped his gun away and crouched down next to Ariadne. Her eyes fixed on him.<p>

"Hey there, love. How are you feeling?" he asked softly with a slight smile. He had feared the worst on the plane trip over here, and was so relieved to see her in one piece. Who knew that one little girl could cause him so much panic? He had nearly had a heart attack when Arthur called him in a panic at 2:00 in the morning saying that Ariadne was in trouble, but he didn't know how badly. Eames had rushed out of his apartment, he figured he may have locked the door behind him, and sped to the airport to meet up with Arthur in Paris. That plane ride was the longest ride he had ever been on, despite the fact that it had actually only last about two hours.

Finally, after three days of searching, they had discovered who had taken their architect and where they were located. They had hopped on yet another plane, this time owned by Saito, and had flown into a tiny airport in the middle of nowhere in Hungary. Arthur had leapt off the plane nearly before it had stopped moving, hotwired a car and disappeared. Eames and Cobb had hurried too, but they didn't want the entire Hungarian police force on their tail, so they had to take the time to rent a car. It had gone relatively quickly, but everything seemed to move at a snail's pace for Eames.

He was brought out of his reverie when Ariadne responded with, "Can I go home now?" Her words nearly broke his heart.

"Of course, love." He was interrupted from saying more when Cobb came back and started talking with Arthur.

"I've found a van that looks bulletproof that we can use to get out of here, but I need you to hotwire it. Can you come now?" he asked. Arthur glanced at Ariadne, then Eames, and then back at Cobb.

"Yeah. I'll be out in a moment." Cobb seemed satisfied with that answer and left to keep watch again. "Ari," Arthur started softly, "I need to leave you for a minute okay? Eames will stay with you," he looked to the forger, "won't you Eames?"

"How would I ever live with myself if I left our beautiful princess unguarded?" he asked with a smile. Ariadne would have blushed if she had been more aware of what was happening. "I will stand guard until the building falls apart around me. ...Or until you get that car going," he added with a smile as he sat down on the other side of the shaking girl. Arthur got up slowly and carefully passed Ariadne to Eames. She relaxed into him and he held her close to his side, still obviously alert of any hidden enemies. Arthur hurried out of the room to start their escape car. Eames took the time to make sure his "beautiful princess" was still conscious. "How are you feeling?" She looked up at him and her brow furrowed to form a confused expression. "What?"

"Where did Arthur go?" she asked frantically. She had obviously not understood what had happened just moments before, and was now panicking when her only hope of rescue had vanished suddenly. She didn't seem to recognize Eames and started to get up, but as soon as she pulled away from the forger, she cried out and fell back. He caught her gently and wrapped one arm around her while capturing her hands in his other. She started thrashing weakly and Eames worried that she was going to hurt herself.

"Ariadne, stop!" he said firmly. "You're safe. It's me, Eames. Don't worry." He continued whispering soft encouragements until she stopped struggling. Eames could tell though, that she had only calmed because she couldn't move anymore, and not because she actually knew what was going on. She had frozen completely except for the shivers that shook her body at random intervals. "Ariadne?" She didn't respond in any way. "Love, I need you to look at me." After a moment, she glanced up at him. Her eyes fixed on his and he took in the distrust written clearly on her face. "Do you know who I am?" he asked gently. She started to shake her head, then paused and nodded, then stopped again and looked confused.

"I'm not sure…" she said slowly.

"I'm Eames," he replied. "How could you forget your favorite British forger?" he asked teasingly. A flicker of recognition came to her face and she smiled. "That's my girl." He pressed her totem, which he had grabbed off the floor earlier, into her hands and then draped his arm lazily around her shoulders. "We're going to get you out of here. Arthur is just outside…acquiring us a vehicle." Ariadne's head fell against his chest and Eames looked down, alarmed that the girl had fallen unconscious. "Ari?" he asked as he tapped her cheek to wake her up. Her eyes fluttered open and she lifted her head up to his arm so she could see him better. "You've got to stay awake, love. We're leaving soon."

She groaned. "My head hurts."

"I'm sorry." Then he thought about something. "Can you see okay?"

"Like what?"

"Like," Eames looked for an object in the room. "How about that chair over there?" He pointed to the chair Ariadne had been tied to for the last few days. She looked in the general direction of the chair and squinted slightly.

She shook her head. "Not really. It's all blurry." Tears started welling up in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she cried, "I just can't see it. It's just one big blur, and I can't figure out what it really is, and—" Eames cut her off.

"Ariadne, love, it's okay. It doesn't matter," he said in a rush. He hadn't expected that reaction, but couldn't really be surprised by it. The poor girl was exhausted beyond belief. He was about to reassure her some more, but then a shot was heard from outside, followed by yelling.

Before Eames could do much more than untangle himself from Ariadne so he could protect her, he heard Arthur yell, "Eames, we've got the car running. Bring her now! We'll cover you. We have to get her out of here!" More shots were fired, and Eames heard a victorious shout from Cobb.

Eames slipped his gun back in his pocket and turned to see that Ariadne had already curled into a ball and was lying against the wall with her arms wrapped around her and her eyes closed tightly. Knowing he couldn't waste any time, Eames simply picked her up. She let out a cry of surprise and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck, but didn't fight back this time. "You're going to be okay," he whispered. "We're going to get you out of here. Hang on tight."

There weren't many people that Eames would hop on a plane for, but Ariadne was definitely one of those on the very short list. This trembling girl was definitely worth all of the stress he had felt the last few days. There was no other option than to get Ariadne to safety, even if it meant risking his own neck in the process. Ariadne, whether as a little sister or maybe something more, had captured his heart, and there was no way he was going to let these monsters get at her again. There weren't many people who could bring out such loyalty from the forger. But then again, Ariadne wasn't most people.

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><p><strong>Tell me what you think!<strong>


	5. Never alone

**Final chapter!**

**I don't own this...**

_**Nightmare Realism**_

_**Never Alone**_

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><p>Eames crept towards the doorway and peered out. He saw Arthur and Cobb crouched behind a large van pointing their guns at a target he couldn't see. Arthur signaled him to stay back and Eames took several steps back away from the door. He wasn't taking any chances that a stray bullet would hit Ariadne. She was still clinging to him with such a grip that could only mean that she was still conscious, even if only barely. Eames was getting more and more worried about the tiny girl in his arms. She wasn't responding anymore than a periodic moan when he moved her. One of his hands was resting on her ribs, which he could immediately tell were at least cracked. He adjusted his hand so it wasn't touching her injuries, but she still moaned pitifully.<p>

"Sorry, love," he said sadly. He peered around the doorway again to see Cobb shoot one of the thugs who had been trying to sneak closer to the van. Arthur immediately started gesturing to Eames to bring Ariadne. Eames glanced around to make sure it was safe, and then rushed out of the room.

Immediately, shots rang through the warehouse. Eames shielded Ariadne with his body while he hurried to the van. Cobb and Arthur were shooting rapidly, forcing the thugs back behind their barricade. As soon as Eames got close, Arthur leapt up and opened the door to the van. He positioned himself inside the back of the van to take Ariadne from Eames while Cobb got in the driver's seat and started the engine. Bullets struck the windows but didn't go through. Arthur gently pried Ariadne's arms off of Eames' neck and then took the girl into his own arms. Ariadne started to thrash when Arthur took her, effectively punching Eames in the shoulder, but Eames was able to calm her down quickly by speaking softly to her.

"Are you ready?" Cobb barked from the front seat. They were taking heavy fire and it was only a matter of time before one of them made it through. Arthur braced Ariadne and himself against the side of the car while Eames got in and slammed the car door shut. Ariadne winced when the door closed, but otherwise had become almost completely listless and unresponsive. As soon as the door was tightly closed, Cobb hit the gas and sent the car screeching out of the warehouse.

"Let's lay her down," Arthur suggested once they were on the freeway and moving quickly away from that wretched warehouse. They slipped a now unconscious Ariadne lower until she was lying flat on the car floor. "We need to check her injuries," Arthur said. "Did you see any obvious ones when you were with her?" Eames nodded.

"She couldn't see very well and her ribs are definitely cracked." Eames looked from Arthur to Ariadne. "She kept falling in and out of consciousness, but she always woke back up when I poked her cheek. I don't know if she's unconscious now because of her injuries or simply because she's exhausted." Ariadne's still form was starting to scare Eames. Even though they could both see her chest slowly rising and falling with each breath, it was still chilling to see such a lively, enthusiastic girl so motionless.

They took her to the airport as quickly as they could. Ariadne was still unconscious when they arrived, but she had responded slightly to their prodding. Eames scooped her up and carried her up the stairs into the airplane owned by Saito. Medical staff was on board and once the plane was in the air they took a look at her. Both Eames and Arthur had punched something hard before the medical staff had finished cataloguing Ariadne's injuries. She had a concussion, four broken ribs and severe bruising all over her body. It would take weeks to heal. One of her ribs was resting against her right lung and it was causing problems for her breathing. It wasn't deadly yet, but she would have to stay in the hospital for at least a week or two.

The plane stopped in France for more fuel and took off for New York quickly. Eames and Arthur wanted as much distance as possible between those brutes and Ariadne. Arthur held her hand the entire trip while Eames paced up and down the plane impatiently. Finally, after what seemed like forever and a half, Ariadne moaned. Both men were at her side in an instant.

"Ari?" Arthur asked. Her glazed eyes fluttered open. "Hey, sweetie, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," she said shakily. Arthur shook his head and almost laughed at her statement. "What happened?"

"We got you out, love," Eames replied. "You're safe now." She still seemed confused.

"And this isn't a dream?"

"Nope, this is real," Eames said as he pushed her totem into her hand. She smiled and gripped it tightly. She then moved to push herself into a sitting position. Eames and Arthur helped her and Eames handed her an icepack for her ribs while Ariadne scooted next to Arthur. Arthur wrapped his arm around the girl and held the icepack in place while Ariadne put her head on his shoulder and promptly fell back asleep.

They woke her up every hour or so and asked her basic questions as the medical staff instructed to check for the severity of the concussion. It wasn't too bad and they were able to joke around with Ariadne some before she would fall back asleep. She was going to be okay, they realized. She would probably be jumpy and fearful for awhile, but they would be there for her. She would heal. And they would make sure she would never be alone like that again.

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><p><strong>And that was the finale! What did you think?<strong>


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